


A Loop Around my Neck

by OmniGamer



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fantasizing, M/M, Masturbation, Mentions of Panam/Male V, One-Sided Relationship, Slow Burn, eventual roomba V, fixit fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:28:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28738761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OmniGamer/pseuds/OmniGamer
Summary: Through circumstances outside of their own control, V and Johnny Silverhand are forced to share a body.Johnny is starting to get used to V's particular quirks. V is starting to get used to Johnny's. They see each other as friends, brothers, but Johnny is starting to see V as a little more than that.Now Johnny finds himself pitched against a relentless timer to erase his body mate to find a solution. One that V might not entirely agree with.Tags subject to change as more chapters are added.
Relationships: Johnny Silverhand/Male V
Comments: 6
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty much shamelessly dropping this chapter to get my foot in the door of the popularity wave before it passes. I personally love the Panam and V romance in the game, but I also ship Johnny and V. This fic is going to try and balance that.
> 
> Made some cover art because darn it, I enjoyed this game. XD

  


V had a peculiar sleeping habit. One that went without concern even after his head gained a roommate. He would sleep roughly eight hours a night, but taking those hours of unconsciousness in four-hour chunks, waking after the first to use the bathroom and maybe read a book for a few minutes before heading back to sleep.

Johnny didn’t think much of it at first, thinking it more of a quirk of the younger man. It wasn’t until he got a little more control over when he took over V’s body that he realized something: V was an immensely heavy sleeper. Short of the time Johnny smashed his toe against the door jam trying to inspect V’s weapon stash in the dark, V would remain blissfully asleep and unaware of Johnny’s actions for those four hours. Pain seemed to be the only limitation.

Under the light of the bathroom’s fluorescents, Johnny prodded at their shared face, watching as the soft flesh moved under his fingers. Their fingers. V’s fingers. It was a somewhat difficult thing to wrap his head around completely. That this wasn’t truly his body.

 _Not yet, anyway,_ he thought grimly.

He would never tell V, not even if he was probably tortured to, but sometimes he actually did feel like the brain parasite that V would sometimes call him during a bad time.

Johnny lowered V’s fingers, let them curl around the edges of the bathroom sink. ‘Bad times’ were becoming more frequent, the attacks shaking V’s system. They didn't have much time left, and they still hadn't found an answer.

Johnny felt like he needed a smoke, regardless of V's apparent ban on the practice. "Fuck you, V," he said to his reflection. He was going to smoke.

Reaching into the drawers under the sink, he found a pack of cigs he had taped to the front panel. He ripped it free and pulled one from the pack and put it between his lips.

V didn't have any lighters. V made a point of not having any lighters, so Johnny just had to pretend… or, just leave the apartment and bum for a light.

He did just that.

As he puffed that sweet nicotine into his lungs, it occurred to him how many people actually gave a shit about V. That people actually gave a shit about some supposed nobody merc that couldn't resist sticking his neck out for others.

It made Johnny feel… small. Like, he was taking something out of the world before it even had a chance to shine. He leaned over the railing, staring out into the rest of the slum V called home. 

It was busy even at this time of night. Neon lights shone brightly, illuminating the world to a false daylight. A chipper ping of his timer reminded him that he had ten minutes before V would be waking up. Ten minutes before he had to snuff out his cig, brush his teeth to hopefully hide the taste of ash on his tongue, and slip back into bed in that odd sideways fashion V preferred. 

Johnny took a few more drafts of his cig before tossing it to the cement and stomping it out with V's steel-toed boots.

He brushed V's teeth, and guilt had him popping one of those omega blocker pills before tossing himself into bed.

His last moments of awareness before the pill ripped him out of the body's driver seat, were of him staring at the ceiling and thinking.

****

Even without entering V's systems, Johnny was starting to… feel things. In this case, certain things that V should have dealt with.

Both of them were pent up, and walking into Clouds then walking down Jig-Jig street without jacking it even when they finally got back to the privacy of their own home was a downright travesty.

From the magazines and dirty socks, V thought he so cleverly hid, V didn't seem to have any problems down under. There should be no reason that the both of them were feeling as uncomfortable as they were now.

 _Fuck…_ At this point Johnny didn't even care that the merc swung both ways - yet strongly denied it. He wasn't V's shrink. He just needed to get some relief.

"V?" he asked the dark room, hoping to at least get an incoherent mumble in response.

He got silence.

"V?!" he asked again, louder and stepping close enough to the younger man that his digital form was practically on top of V.

Again, Johnny's efforts were met with silence. He paced the room, somehow in disbelief that V could sleep with that kind of desire still thrumming through his veins. Sure it was lessening with every passing moment, but that was completely besides the point.

Johnny debated taking over V's body again. He thought about it, then finally decided to just do it anyway.

A swear drew itself from his lips, the sensations of V’s raging boner even worse when Johnny was finally sitting in the driver seat. He curled on himself, groaning and moaning into the mattress.

It took him a few seconds to fully collect himself, to set his four-hour timer. “You are a fucking pain…”

Johnny was still hard, V was still hard. He dragged the both of them into the bathroom and further into the shower, stripping their clothes from themselves in the process.

Or, tried to. 

Johnny half-tripped getting out of V's baggy, black jeans, just barely getting his hands out in time to avoid planting their collective face against bathroom tile.

The impact was fortunately painless, V still stuck somewhere in dreamland. 

Johnny let out a breath. He wasn't exactly keen on his nighttime activities being exposed in such a way. With V's pants twisted around his ankles and a raging erection between his legs.

He kicked off the offending garment, and left it in the same pile he left V's shabby hooded cut-off. 

_Fuck._

He was angry enough that he pulled off the blindingly bright muscle-shirt V wore beneath that. 

The merc had a real problem. V liked vibrant clothes. Popping yellows, dazzling purples, and electric blues. He just wouldn't wear any of these things where someone else could see that he was wearing them. To the outside world, V wore one color. Black. To Johnny though… Johnny would always know. V couldn't hide it from him. Johnny was in his fucking head, in his fucking body with a fucking erection that wouldn't go away.

_Fine._

He'd deal with it. He was going to anyway. 

He dragged their shared body into the shower, turned on the tap, and let the hot water wash over them. For fun, he gripped V's length with their left hand, soaking in the concept of a flesh and blood hand around his cock again instead of one of cold steel. 

Johnny pumped their hand up and down, completely enthralled with the sensation of skin on skin. Alternating with gentle and hard squeezes, Johnny closed his eyes. He summoned the image of the Clouds’ receptionist, the blue-haired woman more his speed than the doll V ended up trying to get information out of.

_Yeah… That’s right…_

Their hips rocked into their hand, their need growing as Johnny worked them back up to the climax V had tried to ignore. He pictured her, on her knees, those black painted lips wrapped around his cock sucking him in. He imagined her throat bulging as he plowed deeper into her. He could just see what it would be like to add his own bit of paint across her tattooed body.

He shut their eyes tight, mouth hanging agape as he climbed. And, climbed. And, climbed. But, that became a problem. Johnny kept climbing then eventually… sort of… plateaued. It had never happened to him before. He almost didn’t know what to do. Almost. Johnny summoned every bit of hot ass he could recall: the 'A' typical blond bombshell with big tits and a bigger ass. The twins, not quite sharing one brain but big on sharing one cock. Heck, even that purple-haired chick who first introduced Johnny to pegging. Nothing. Not one memory, real or imagined, stirred him up and over.

_Was there something wrong with V-?_

The moment his body mate crossed his mind, Johnny felt… something. It made their engorged cock jump that much more, made it start weeping its own tear of pearlescent cum.

Suddenly, he realized it wasn't V who had the problem…

Johnny moved off from the shower, needing a reflection… needing V's reflection.

He stepped up to the sink, its sensor triggering and removing the usual fog that lay on its surface when it was dormant.

Silver cybernetic eyes stared back at him. V's usual slicked back hair, currently tousled with sleep and dripping wet, had a few loose strands that stuck to his face. The lines of his cybernetics traced under his eyes and ran up and around his skull. And, the grand fucking cherry on the top was the flush on the merc's face from Johnny's attempt to get them off.

Their hand clenched around their length, their shared wince of pleasure and pain mirrored back to Johnny.

_Oh, fuck…_

He was climbing again, their panting breaths becoming more and more V's breaths. V's eyes screwing up with pleasure. Johnny watched all of this eagerly, working their cock with an eager energy he hadn't had for a while.

_Yeah…_

Johnny was finally getting close, and in that closeness he let his imagination go wild. His hand in V's hair, gripping those red locks that grew easily twice as long as the cropped dark brown hair on the sides and back of his head. His other on V's hip, palm over a bullet scar from when V got caught skulking around the latest NCPD Suspected Organized Crime Activity thing, holding V tight on his cock…

He wondered if V would moan like he really wanted it. Johnny wondered what it would sound like, but only for a second. Johnny got to at least know what V would sound like, if only because he was making the noises through V.

It sounded… right. _Somehow._ Right enough that Johnny spent himself, cock twitching as it unloaded onto the bathroom tile.

After riding out the last of their shared climax, Johnny felt… not better. Sure his need- V's need had been sated, but it left something else in the pit of Johnny's stomach. Something that wouldn't exactly go away with a quick wanking, that much Johnny was sure of.

He decidedly returned to the shower, flipping it to cold to try and cool his head.

Johnny had mistaken V for a joytoy for a reason. He was handsome but in that sort of youthful way. The streets hadn't quite left a mark on him despite the scars that scattered his body - V was still too willing to trust people. Or, maybe it was something stupid, like V’s eyes, though a part of Johnny doubted it considering they were very obviously cybernetic. V hadn't even bothered trying to get a set that looked organic.

_Or, maybe it was just that…_

Johnny stopped himself. It was something he didn't really want to think about. He had tried to flatline the merc. He was technically still trying even if he didn’t want to anymore.

_It wasn't…_

He ran anxious hands through his- through V's hair, the red strands coming loose further with his agitating. 

V was going to die. Johnny was consuming him. Sooner or later, V wouldn't be around anymore. Sooner or later, Johnny would be the only voice in this head. It wouldn't do to get attached. It would just hurt that much more when the inevitable came.

Somehow, the thought felt lonely. He had come to… appreciate a second voice, as stubborn as it was, and while V didn't always listen to Johnny's advice, V had started coming halfway on some things.

Like the pack of cigs now sitting openly on the coffee table. Untouched by V of course, but the thought was still there. Heck. Sitting beside the cigs was a lighter so Johnny didn't have to ask anyone anymore. V wouldn't have known exactly what Johnny got up to, but he did start piecing together that Johnny was using his body, occasionally. 

_Maybe…_

At the very least, it felt like V was giving permission for… some things.

His timer beeped at him, reminding him that he had twenty minutes left.

He squeezed their eyes shut, took a deep breath, and then turned the shower off.

Johnny groped the wall for a towel. Finding it, he dried V's body, almost regretting doing so due to V's continued after-orgasm sensitivity. 

He grunted, skin feeling like it was rippling beneath the towel as blood began pooling once more at V's groin. It didn't help that V dappled in… extensive augmentation.

"Not… now…" he told V's cock. Johnny was beginning to realize why V might have just tried ignoring it in the first place.

Yeah. Johnny could probably get hard enough again, to imagine fucking V up against the bathroom wall, his tongue deep in the merc's throat as his hands squeezed ever so slightly around the merc's neck to stutter his breathing.

Johnny paused. _Fuck the 'could probably get hard' part…_ Johnny was already hard again.

He knew the source this time though, it could be easy enough to… His timer went off again. Fifteen minutes left. Johnny cursed V and V's cybernetically enhanced cock.

He towel-dried V's hair, mussing it up completely into some disheveled state that was at least dry.

He grabbed the bottle of omega blockers, popping two this time so he wouldn't have to be bothered by V's current erection, and dashed to bed before he lost complete control.

Johnny perhaps realized a little too late that he had forgotten to get back into the clothes V had been wearing when he fell asleep.

Fortunately, V mentioned nothing about it, or the mess Johnny had left on the bathroom floor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got the next chapter done! Woot!
> 
> I'm starting to mix in some scenes and dialogue from the game, but writing them from Johnny's perspective to keep them a little fresher. So, spoilers potentially depending on your playthrough.

"You're pent up," Johnny had to point out this time. 

V laughed slightly, something very akin to an embarrassed chuckle as he dropped his boots by the door. "Am I now? Since when have you been such an expert?"

"Since I have to feel everything too, V" answered Johnny a little pointedly. If V just dealt with their little problem… then great. Johnny wouldn't have to. He wouldn't have to be forced into some dark little corner to relieve their blue balls… again… like fucking always it seemed.

"Ah. Sorry." The merc didn't sound very apologetic.

"You should just fuck her."

V tripped on the edge of his couch, half sprawling against the cushions, half against the floor. "Wait. What?!" he asked, a little slow on the uptake.

"Panam. I know the way you stare at her ass."

V dragged himself onto the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table. Nibbles took the opportunity to sit in V’s lap. 

“Shut it,” he half growled, glancing away and fingers absentmindedly kneading into the sphynx cat’s bald little head. It closed its buggy, yellow eyes, really pushing up and into the motions of V’s hands. Something solid. Something there. “S’not like you weren’t staring either…” 

“Whatever.” Johnny found himself staring a little too hard at V currently. Something akin to envy was flaring in his binary veins as the cat curled itself into V’s lap, V’s hand stroking down its back then repeating the motion. Being felt. Interacting. “But, deal with your cock. I’ll look the other way if you’re shy.”

“You’re an ass, Johnny.” V scratched Nibbles under the chin until the cat decided it was time to investigate some other part of V’s apartment.

Abandoned, V leaned forward, hands rubbing up and down his legs and distinctly avoiding touching himself.

_The coward…_

Johnny could only shake his head and sigh. “Like that’s news.”

V gave him the middle finger and sat up. He ran his hand through his hair as he made his way over to his bed. He ditched his jacket and neon orange shirt in the process.

“V…” Johnny warned. The merc was doing it again. To himself. To them. “I’m serious. I can feel the tent you’re pitching, and it's uncomfortable as hell.”

“This is not a discussion I'm having with you,” V said, still looking far too much like he was going to just sleep.

Johnny stepped in front of V. "Deal with it. Or, let me." He inclined his head towards the bathroom where Misty's special pills lay.

"I'm not shortening my lifespan just for you to get a wank."

"Then do it yourself."

V sighed and tried to move around Johnny. 

Johnny didn't let him. He grabbed the merc's arm, and as imagined as his presence seemed to be, V froze, the cybernetics on the side Johnny was holding locking in place. 

V shot Johnny a rather harsh glare, likely fuming over the combination of his subconscious and Johnny's own influence on V's systems that stopped him.

Johnny released V's arm which V tucked back to his side quickly. The fingers of his hand clenched and unclenched, as if V was checking to make sure he still had control over them.

“I’m not jacking it with you… jacked in.” V pointed to his chip ports, more specifically at the biochip stuck in his skull.

“Ha. Good joke, V. But, this is not a hill you want to be dying on.” Johnny crossed his arms in front of his chest, refusing to budge from his spot.

V sighed exasperatedly, his own stubbornness clashing with Johnny's. "It's still my cock, and I'm ignoring it… Night Johnny."

Johnny blocked V's path for only a moment more, before stepping aside. V had obviously made up his mind.

_Looks like Johnny had to deal with it after all…_

He waited a few excruciating minutes until V finally dozed off. Then, for good measure, Johnny snapped his fingers right beside V's ear.

No response.

Johnny took a deep, proverbial breath, and dove in.

Time had hardened Johnny from the initial shock of taking over V's systems, more so from the shock of V's heavy blue balls.

He sat up swearing, legs spread apart to try and relieve some of the pressure. Successful by only a little.

"Fuck you, V…" he half-mumbled out loud. He undid the zipper on V's pants, yanking them open with a pained fury to free their shared cock. “You damned gonk…” 

The cool air kissed its inflamed head, easing the ache of its weight just slightly.

Johnny gasped, his hand closing around its length as his fingers coaxed it gently up and down.

For the moment, he tried to keep his thoughts clear, to only feel the moment and not anything in particular.

His thoughts only remained nebulous for a few fleeting strokes before taking shape, and he knew just what… just who they were of. Of red hair, silver cybernetic eyes, a lean but muscular build… 

Johnny realized he had a problem. His nighttime fantasies had become singular, and the singular pain-in-the-ass wasn't helping either of them.

He smoothed their thumb over V's weeping cock, smearing its precum along its head, then pressed down tightly.

Air hissed between his teeth on a sharp exhale.

He wasn't having any luck trying to keep V out of his thoughts. His very own exerted pants were feeding back to him, a foreign sound to his usual noises. It sounded like they belonged to someone else, the very someone Johnny was trying not to masturbate to.

"Meow!"

Johnny opened their eyes, finding Nibbles staring at him accusingly. Somehow, the cat seemed to know when Johnny took over V's body.

"What are you staring at?"

Nibbles continued staring. The cat didn't even think to offer him a blink.

Johnny waved his free hand in an attempt to shoo the voyant cat. 

Not moving an inch, Nibbles remained adamant in its apparent protection of V's chastity.

"You're not helping nearly as much you are thinking you are, Cat."

"Meow!" As if to accentuate whatever it had just protested, the bald cat pressed a paw angrily against V's leg, claws threatening to dig into the black fabric of V's jeans as it repeated the motions.

"Hey!" growled Johnny, moving his leg away. He was more worried about those claws nicking flesh than he was about V's jeans. It would be hard for Johnny to explain his way out of having their hand on their junk and Nibbles turning into a ball of feral fury on their leg.

Frustrated, Johnny shook Nibbles from his leg. Despite whatever allowed Nibbles to tell when Johnny was in control, the cat had never been this overly protective before. 

_Was it because of V's earlier complaints?_

Johnny glared.

Nibbles hissed.

 _If it was a fight you wanted…_ Johnny tucked their painful erection away. It was clear that Johnny wouldn't be getting rid of it while Nibbles was on guard.

"Fuck you." Johnny prepared to scruff the aggravating cat.

Then the cat blinked. Satisfied, it returned to its spot in the half-filled laundry basket on the floor by the window. It kneaded the pile of brightly colored shirts before plopping down. Nibbled didn't look away, however, making it apparent that Johnny was still under scrutiny.

Johnny was half tempted to toss Nibbles outside - after all, that was where V picked up the stray in the first place. Just around the corner from his front door, living off donated scraps by the garbage pails. Nibbles' previous owner had only left a note asking someone to feed it, but V had done a little more than that.

A sigh escaped his lips… their lips, and Johnny laid back into the mattress. He stared up at the ceiling, trying hard not to think about their engorged cock.

_But, it was challenging when all their blood was in a certain part of their shared anatomy!_

Johnny sat up again with a jolt. He glared at Nibbles but realized there was an alternative. One that was practically staring him in the face.

It was V's stash, with a working sliding door. 

Like someone who had to take a desperate piss, he ran across the room, hand slamming against the door's panel to open it.

To Nibbles' yowls of protest and rapidly approaching steps, Johnny rushed inside, commanding the door closed again with V's cybernetics. The cat pawed uselessly at the door from the other side, but it wouldn't open.

But Johnny didn’t leave it there. He couldn't help further antagonizing the furless bag of wrinkled skin. "Serves you right," he said, tapping briefly on the transparent door.

Nibbles hissed his displeasure.

"Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Nibbles yowled and headbutted the barrier between them.

Johnny looked about the room. A few upright shelves loaded with extra ammunition and guns. A locker box filled with a small assortment of grenades, Bounceback injectors, and Maxdoc inhalers. A piece of armor, left in a pile, ready for V to decontruct for parts whenever the merc got around to it.

It wasn't an ideal location for tugging one out, but it was available - and, more importantly, cat free.

A certain part of Johnny chastised him for what his life had led to. To him, squatting in a small-time merc's storage room trying to jerk said merc off when it should have been the other way 'round.

****

Johnny didn’t blame V for finally fucking Panam. Not when he had been hounding the merc about it. Heck, if Johnny had been in V’s place he would have likely done the same. 

_How often did you get to experience sex in an operating Basilisk? Or, interconnected nervous systems with your partner?_

Except, Johnny was already in V's nervous system. They shared the same goddamn brain. Not that the thought crossed through said brain for V to sleep with… Johnny… or that thought crossed Johnny’s mind… ever. 

_Okay. So, maybe Johnny blamed V. A Little. Maybe._

There seemed to be more and more maybes popping up in his life… or afterlife, with regards to V.

Johnny paced the space he occupied when V was completely out of it. Not sleeping, but fortunately not dead either.

This time had been bad. Far worse than the usual disorientating minutes of forced glitching in and out of this space. Johnny had been forced out of V's system for hours now. Forced into the empty nebulous of wherever he was, only occasionally getting glimpses of the real world as the Nomads took V with them.

He supposed he should be thankful they were looking out for V. That they realized something was wrong with the merc even though they didn't know what, and had the better sense to not go poking around in his cybernetics.

Johnny felt his world suddenly reopen. V was waking up.

_About damn time…_

The thing Johnny didn’t need was Panam staring down at the two of them, concern awash on her pretty fucking face as she called V’s name. Johnny could have also done without V’s heart racing slightly at the sight as he called hers.

“Oh, V…” Johnny sighed exasperatedly, drawing V’s attention away and towards the corner of the tent where Johnny stood. 

Johnny crossed his arms over his chest, not that he was pouting or anything. Because that would imply he actually would be pouting over this sort of thing. Like some child. He was a grown-ass man with grown-ass feelings. The most he felt was annoyed at the sight.

He leaned back, the tent wall indifferent to his lack of a presence, and glanced away.

It was confession time. Panam was stubborn enough to see to it.

“V… You have to tell me what is happening. The blood… You were out for hours. What’s wrong?” She rocked impatiently in her folding chair, the metal squeaking slightly.

V wet his lips and remained lying down. “Panam, I… It’s getting worse, every single day…” V's voice sounded hoarse and cracked. Even Johnny felt some sympathy.

“Ok, V, relax. Take it bit by bit. What is happening, exactly?”

V rolled over to stare at the tent’s triangular ceiling. He breathed out deeply. “To tell you the whole truth… I’m afraid things won’t be the same between us if I do.” His eyes squeezed shut. As if the merc could just will the situation they found themselves in to be one fucked up dream.

 _Tough break, V…_ Johnny thought. They were both stuck in this shit.

Panam though, looked like she was ready to shake the merc. She desperately wanted answers, something, anything that could ease her worry. “V, listen to me. There is not a thing you could say to me that would change how…” 

Johnny squeezed his own eyes shut, his silver hand tightening over his digital-flesh bicep. He didn’t need to hear this.

“I mean, just cut the bullshit and tell me what’s going on!” finished Panam hastily, chickening out of whatever confession she was about to make - much to Johnny’s relief. 

V let out another deep breath, then sat up. His head hung low, like he was ready to be berated by Johnny for admitting anything. Not that Johnny would. Not now. The merc needed some comfort right now, and Johnny sure as hell wasn't great at handing that sort of thing out. If he tried… It probably wouldn't sound genuine. 

“Okay. So… You ever hear of the Relic?” V asked slowly.

“The Arasaka tech? Does something with personalities? I saw the ads. Sounds like some rich people scam, to be honest.” Panam leaned back. She didn't quite understand yet where V was going with the conversation.

The merc locked his fingers together, let them dangle in his lap, and stared down at them. “It’s not bullshit. I’ve got a biochip in my head with one of those constructs. And the chip’s damaged.”

“So take it out!” Panam was tensing like she was ready to just rip the biochip out of V's head then and there. 

Johnny felt himself tensing as well, his teeth sinking slightly into his bottom lip. They had tried it before… Johnny had tried it before. The pain had been… Well, it hadn't been pleasant for either of them.

Remembering that same pain, V raised his hands and scooted subtly back on the cot. “Definitely not that simple. Relic’s also keeping me alive. But…”

“So this is cyberpsychosis? Because if it is, I know people who-”

“No, no," he repeated, shoulders sagging. 

_How much easier things would have been if that had been the case, hmm V?_

"The chip’s infecting my neural connections. Got nothing to do with cyberpsychosis. I remove the Relic, I die. If I don’t deal with the construct, I die.”

“Fuck.” Panam crossed her arms over her chest and tossed her head to the side. She was thinking, something V and Johnny had done for countless hours now raking their shared brain for any solution that wouldn't wind up with either of them dead.

V pulled a slight smile to his face, despite it holding no joy. “Just trying to live with it. Survive, actually.”

Glancing back, Panam's dark eyes darted up and down V's body. She was likely recalling what V looked like before the Nomads washed the blood from his mouth and front. “It’s certainly not doing wonders for your health.”

The sound of approaching footsteps drew both of their attention. V broke the tension first. “I gotta go. I’m feeling better, really.” He stood, albeit with both Panam and Johnny thinking he'd fall over again. 

_Stubborn bastard didn't know how close he was to making friends with the reaper…_

Panam briefly touched V's arm to steady him. A moment of contact that Johnny couldn't share. Not really. “Wait, I will go with you," she said, _oh, so innocently._

Johnny had just about enough and disappeared back into V's systems.

****

On the outskirts of the Nomad camp, Johnny figured it was safe enough to come back out, though he was more or less trailing unseen behind V.

Unfortunately, Panam was still there, having wanted to come to see V off.

“V…" she started. "Back to what we were saying… I will not even pretend to understand. I don’t think it has even sunk in yet. But, I’m serious. How can I help?”

“Honestly, not a clue," V replied, his hands stuffing awkwardly into the pockets of his jeans.

“But, there has to be something, someone who can…” She trailed off. Even she was coming up empty for ideas - not that Johnny had high hopes for her.

“Remember Hellman? He’s the one who created the personality construct tech.”

A slow realization. “That’s why you wanted to get him.”

“But, it was a dead end. Now I have to figure out where to go next.”

“You’ll find a way. And, once you do, let me know. I will help. This whole family will help. Saul was not joking. You understand?” Her genuineness would have been refreshing, had it not instead managed to irk Johnny in several places. Like he wasn't finding a way for them. Like he couldn't help V without involving some sort of army to do so. 

_He was Johnny Fucking Silverhand! He was his own damned army!_

“Thanks for everything." V leaned in, his fingers cupping Panam's sides, letting him feel her presence. "For being here for me.” V kissed Panam in that moment. Something chaste. Something nauseatingly pure.

“Take care of yourself. And let me know… Well, just please keep in touch.” Panam touched V's arm in return, then let her hand fall back to her side as they parted.

V never turned around. The merc never saw the expression on Johnny’s face as the rocker disappeared back into his cybernetics.


	3. Chapter 3

"So, you're making progress with the Nomad chick. Finally got to bang that wild ass."

V slowed his walk and pulled up to a piece of brick-covered building to lean against. He flipped open his holo to get his eyes glowing, so it looked like he was on a call when he was responding to Johnny. 

V's gaze slid to where Johnny had materialized, but his eyes were not focused on Johnny. They were focused on some billboard behind him, so V didn't look like he was staring at something invisible.

Johnny understood but still hated it. He walked a little more himself, the movement dragging on V's lizard brain just enough to draw the merc's eyes back to focus.

V made a slightly annoyed sound and instead started watching some delivery drone flying overhead until it disappeared. "You finally deciding to talk to me again?" he eventually asked, tapping his ear so it looked like his holo call finally connected.

Johnny gave V an eye roll from behind his shades. "I talk to you when I want. Besides what sort of conversation would I be bringing up in the middle of the desert?"

"I dunno Johnny… Maybe this one?" V clearly left out the part about being surrounded by people who could end up thinking V was either high, or worse, on the verge of a cyberpsychosis break. It was an honest concern, but Johnny hadn't felt like talking to V earlier. It was only on the way to Viktor's clinic that he finally found the desire to. 

“I was enjoying the open road and the roar of the engine beneath us.”

“Sure. So, you just trying to harass me, or is this actually going to be a productive conversation?”

"Depends on you."

V raised an eyebrow, trying very damn hard not to level the skeptical glare at Johnny. "Really now. And, how do you see that?"

"Well, you don't seem to like giving me any details." Johnny waved dismissively. "So, how was banging that Nomad? You enjoy tangling neurons while you were at it?"

The merc didn't answer. Not right away. He didn't say anything at all, but his face started turning an embarrassed shade of pink around the edges. "Fuck, Johnny. You couldn't even give me a little privacy for that?"

"Privacy? Listen, V…" Johnny glitched closer to V and gave a holographic poke at the merc's forehead. "While I'm sharing your headspace, nothing is ever private. Even if I wanted it to be."

V brought a hand up to his forehead to rub at the offended skin. "Noted," he replied grumpily, silver eyes pitching down towards the pavement when he realized he had found himself staring at Johnny again.

Johnny liked to imagine that V turned a slight brighter shade of pink.

_Good._

Unfortunately, V didn’t feel obligated to be reflectory for long. Jamming his hands into his pockets, he continued on to Viktor’s clinic. “I don’t see why you’re suddenly so uptight about it though… Weren’t you the one who said I should bang her?”

_Uptight… he wasn’t uptight… It was just…_

“Weren’t you the one that insisted they wouldn’t do anything while I was ‘jacked in’?” Johnny countered.

That got V to quiet down again. “Fuck. Fine. Whatever. I forgot, alright?”

“You forgot?” asked Johnny, glitching ahead to a crossing streetlight. Somehow he was starting to feel a little annoyed. “As in, forget about your own damn rule, or that I was here?”

V looked almost sheepish and it made Johnny just about want to hit the guy. "That you were here?" he said, somewhat unsure. His gaze had drifted to the brick wall, his cybernetic eyes tracking some doodled graffiti partially worn away.

"So. Panam was that good, or did you forget about me earlier than that?"

"I just got caught up in the moment…" V sidestepped some kid's nose deep in some new-fangled playgame station thing. The kid didn't even notice and crashed into the person walking behind V.

"'Caught up in the moment', huh?"

"Look, I don't get why you're ridin' my ass so tight about this anyway. I forgot. It won't happen again until we find some way to split us-" V's voice caught in his throat. He suddenly fell against the wall, his holo automatically disconnecting from the empty line V had opened up as his systems flashed the daily malfunction warning. "Uugggh," he moaned, half sounding like he was going to vomit.

Johnny waited until V was finished, until the merc had some semblance of stability. By the time the merc had finished dry-heaving and wiping spit from his chin, Johnny didn’t really feel like pursuing his somewhat aggressive questioning. “Let’s get you to Vik’s.”

V took a deep breath, his eyes closing momentarily. “Yeah.” He wiped a hand down his face and stood up. “Yeah.”

****

V took a step into Misty’s shop, walking underneath the neon sign brightly displaying ‘Misty’s Esoterica and Chakra Harmonization’. 

The store was the same as always, shelves of spices, porcelain jars, candles, and the constant assault of incense.

“Hey, V How are you feeling?” asked Misty, concerned about the merc’s wellbeing as always.

"Pretty good today," V lied.

She smiled. They both knew V was lying, but as long as V wasn’t making a big deal about it, she wasn’t inclined to make a big deal about it either. “Here to see Vik today?”

“Yeah. Just a tuneup. He with anyone?”

“Not right now. I think you can just head on back.”

"Thanks, Misty." V offered a two finger salute then followed his usual path deeper into the shop, and into the alley out behind.

Collapsed boxes and newspaper decorate the pavement as air conditioning units jutted out from the surrounding towers emitting a low hum. But, it was all just a brief distraction from why he came.

V headed towards the staircase leading below the street. A green light and a sign let V know that Viktor was indeed free. He ignored the wall of hissing pipes kept separate by a mesh grate, and continued down into the otherwise unmarked clinic.

“V?” Viktor was sitting at his desk, tinkering with his arm. He set aside his screwdriver, and waved V inside. “Here for a checkup?”

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, V’s eyes darted to the side. “Yeah. Had a bit of an episode in the desert. Want to make sure nothing is… too messed up.”

Viktor sighed deeply. “An episode, huh? Something tells me, it was a little more than that.”

V opened his mouth then closed it again.

"Well. Sit the fuck down and let me have a look at you. I'll be over in a sec." He jabbed his thumb at the metal, operating chair behind him. Behind that was a car bay, making Johnny suspect that the clinic used to be an auto shop before the ripperdoc took over.

It didn’t take much convincing to have V settling into the chair. It was why he had come in the first place. 

Picking up his screwdriver again, Viktor slid a screw into his arm and began fastening it down. "Plug yourself in. Might as well start with a virus scan." 

V did so, flipping his left hand over and pulling out the corded port from his wrist. He sunk the port into a matching slot on the chair at sat back, a brief scan loading bar popping up in his vision.

Viktor didn't come over immediately. He flexed his hand and attached medical accoutrements, before finally coming over. 

The ripperdoc glanced at the screen. "Looks like your systems are clean of any _new_ malware at least… Going to test your neural connections now." He reached over V and snapped a cable into the port on his neck.

There took a few minutes as Viktor's hardware ran their diagnostics, a few warning flags popping up beside more than a few lines of text.

V pretended not to notice. "How bad is it?"

"V… I don't know what you want me to tell you," the ripperdoc said, looking over V's latest scan. "You are taking those pills I prescribed you?"

V nodded, "Yeah. Sometimes it doesn't feel like they're helping though…"

"Well, they are. You'd be in an even worse state if you weren't." There was something Viktor wasn't quite telling V, but it was there in the way the ripperdoc held himself. A sinking in his shoulders, the slight tension in his jaw. V's state was far worse than Viktor was letting on.

"Ask him, V," Johnny said, eyes not wavering from the ripperdoc's face. "Or I will."

V glanced over to Johnny, to an empty space from Viktor's point of view. It drew a pained look from the ripperdoc's eyes.

V simply let out a held breath. It was a question that never changed. "How much time do I have left?"

Viktor tapped the screen as if somehow doing so would change whatever he saw. He leaned back into his chair. The resulting creak was almost deafening. “It’s worse, V. Your systems are failing unpredictably now. I couldn't give you a prediction if I wanted to.” The ripperdoc stared hard at the screen. "Have you been taking any Misty's pills? Has… Silverhand been taking any of Misty's pills? Because we both-"

Johnny almost swore that Viktor was asking him that question and not V, though V was the one to answer. "I don't know… It doesn't look like any of them are missing, but…" V shrugged.

"Could just be that episode ended up frying a few things that's making it look worse than it is…" Viktor took one last look at the screen, before pushing away from the desk and wheeling the rolling chair to V's side. He disconnected V from his machinery, the jack-in cable at his wrist reeling back into V’s hand on a slight tug. "Do you mind if I pull you apart a little? Just clean the sand out of your bits, maybe some oil in case something's seizing." 

Johnny was a little curious why V's heartrate spiked for a single moment, why V's breathing came to a crashing halt before it started again. "Go ahead. You know I trust you."

"Always have to ask, V. Now we'll start with your legs. Right or left?"

****

Johnny could tell V was mulling over Viktor's words. 

After a few more seconds, V pulled the bike to the side of the road, kicking out his feet to balance as it rolled to a stop. He quickly put in a call to Panam, her icon flashing briefly in the corner of V's vision as the number rang.

“Hi there, V,” came Panam’s voice over the holo. It was calm. Casual. 

Johnny wasn’t even exactly sure what suddenly possessed V to make the call in the first place. But, he could hazard a guess or two.

V took a few moments to respond. A sort of lurching feeling in their chest. It was enough to pique Johnny’s interest, enough that Johnny was now glitching in and out behind the merc. 

“How’s it going?” A smile spread on V’s face. Warm. Bright. A love-sick puppy.

Johnny felt his own heart lurch. He stepped back, arms folding over his data-constructed chest. It wasn't an expression he got. _Ever._

“Depends on what the “it” is. And, what you wanna hear.”

V shuffled forward on his bike’s seat, crotch grinding across leather, his hands smoothing in anxious tension over the handlebars. “Oh, y’know, the yuzh - ‘I long for you, V’.”

Johnny couldn’t escape the ever so slight chuckle in Panam’s voice as it returned. The sound playing directly into his brain, his thoughts. It was an inescapable torment. “Oh? I see you’ve already played out this conversation all on your own… Force of habit?”

He glanced over at V. The merc had a guilty, caught expression. A light shade of pink had started creeping in the tips of his ears. “Panam…” V said, voice gravelly and heavy. It was full of a certain sense of longing as his head tilted slightly to the side.

Then Panam fucking laughed. She fucking laughed. “I did, though. I missed you.”

V’s mouth opened, he wanted to say something more, but before he could, Johnny had ended the call.

V's brows furrowed. He was slightly confused, thinking only that there was a momentary glitch with his holo. 

_Well, technically that was true._

It wasn't as if V knew what sort of glitch had actually caused the hangup, and Johnny was content to keep it that way as he disappeared back into V's systems.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another scene from the game from Johnny's point of view. This one in particular is what launched my V and Johnny ship.
> 
> Please enjoy. XD

“Hey, V? You alright?” Johnny asked, masking whatever worry he could with a distant, sunglasses-covered stare. He was beginning to feel a little worried that his own influence over V had caused this. That he fucked up another good thing just because Johnny was being Johnny… 

V was initially looking like he was going to accept the netrunner’s deal. Seeing what happened when V ultimately stuck with the Voodoos, Johnny was thinking maybe V shouldn’t have, despite Johnny’s insistence.

The merc rolled his head up to Johnny, eyes still not fully able to focus. A few more seconds and he was finally tracking Johnny’s approach to his side more steadily. “Gimme a sec…” he half-slurred from his spot on the floor.

Johnny chuckled slightly, relief a pleasant reprieve to the panic at seeing V bleeding from his nose and laid out on the floor like a fresh corpse. “You looked like him a second ago.” He pointed to the netrunner V had jacked into minutes earlier.

V’s eyes shifted to the very dead netrunner. Blood was streaming from the netrunner’s eyes, nose, mouth. The only difference between him and V was that V was still breathing. And, that the netrunner was better dressed. 

“Thanks, wasn’t asking…” V struggled to his feet, collapsing back into the bright orange cooler on the floor instead. V looked like he wanted to puke. “Ugh. What happened?”

“The netpig was right. Voodoos were blowing smoke. Soon as you gave them access to the Netwatch web, they roasted all the agents. And, you.”

“Biochip swoop in to save the day again? Placide wouldn’t have seen that coming.” V pinched the bridge of his nose, face scrunching up slightly. His cybernetics were throwing a few warnings here and there, but nothing serious anymore. 

“Could be,” Johnny answered with a subtle shrug. He grinned back at V. “In which case, you’re welcome.” It was probably one of the only few times that Johnny was grateful to be a construct in V’s head. If he wasn’t then… V could still be looking an awful lot like that Netwatch netrunner.

V didn’t thank him. It was all speculation anyway. “You think the Voodoos freed Brigitte?”

“Seems that was their plan. Worked thanks to you, I’d say. After the Voodoos turned you into a fucking kamikaze drone.” Johnny might have accidentally put a little too much bite in his words. Fortunately, V didn’t seem to notice and Johnny was able to continue. “Who’d take a job from us spooky-ass Voodoo Boys? Placide took you for pathetic gutter trash, someone who no one’s ever gonna come lookin’ for.” Just remembering V… 

_ Fuck… If the chip hadn’t done its thing… _ He stared hard at the ground with arms crossed, fingers curling tight.

Johnny was a little too lost in thought to catch the full brunt of V’s glare. He did look back when V griped at him though. “Feels like those words came to you awful easy.”

_ As long as V didn’t know what Johnny was actually thinking…  _ Johnny was doing enough worrying for the both of them.

“Well, you do look like shit right now. But I guess you have your good days,” he smirked at the merc again. 

Johnny could tell V was resisting the urge to flip him off. “Gee, thanks,” V said, slumping back slightly.

Straightening, Johnny turned around and started stalking towards the door. “Think it’s time to have a heart-to-heart with Placide. Head to Batty’s. Grumpy motherfucker, hope he likes surprises.” If only Johnny had his own body. He would have gone and beaten the spooky fuck into the ground. The slight punch of sudden rage had him glitching out of existence and back into cyberspace.

***

Somehow, after everything, V managed to drag them back to his apartment. He collapsed into his bed, exhausted.

Johnny didn't blame him. He personally wished they hadn't dredged up those memories. It didn't exactly paint him in the best light as a rescuer… or a lover.

_ Then that episode after… _

He smoothed a nonexistent hand over his face. Being forced to relive Johnny's memories, the consequential meeting with Alt… neither would have been good for V's body in the state he was in. Johnny could practically see the progress bar of his… whatever this was, consuming V. Little percentages ticking up to the greater 100%. 

He wasn’t even sure how much they could trust Alt. She wasn’t what Johnny had remembered of her. Far too cold with nothing of what made her… human. It concerned Johnny in more ways than one. Blowing a pretty hole through Mikoshi's mainframes was one thing, getting there was another. 

_ Using Soulkiller on V after that… If that was what made Alt the way she was…  _ The whole thing didn't sit well with Johnny. He had managed to stay the same, more or less, but he was also in a deficient chip, and who knew how much influence that had on things?

At the very least, Johnny was glad V could still joke about the state he was in. That V's humor hadn't been completely chewed up by the agony eventually twisting his features as he left the church. He was even a little glad that V had tossed the cig that had been sitting in his pocket, that had somehow made it to his fingers and was in badly need of a light. That V showed some resistance to the biochip overwriting him.

_ “Got no idea where I’m going…” _ V had eventually admitted after a long pause.  _ “Be a living legend. That’s all I wanted. Feels like I’m barely surviving…” _

Johnny had tried to assure him. He had tried to let V know that the merc could still be somebody. But, V was sure to dump on that idea. 

_ “Bullshit. Nothing dignifying in suffering, death… Not how legends are born.” _

_ Yeah…  _ Johnny supposed. It wasn’t as if many people knew who he was even after what he had done either.

A thump drew Johnny's attention to his head mate, the merc kicking off his boots from the comfort of his bed. One after the other to sit in a disorganized mess of long shoelaces, leather, and metal.

"How's it going, V?" Johnny asked casually.

The merc couldn't even bother a response, just a grunt into the mattress.

"That good, huh?"

V grunted once more, then forced himself to flip over. He stared at the ceiling, not really seeing it. "I've been thinking…"

"Don't bust a brain cell. You don't have many left."

V sat up slightly to glare at Johnny. "No thanks to you, Asshole, but shut up for a minute…"

Johnny didn't exactly shut up, but he did quiet down after a few more words. "So, say it then."

Falling back into his mattress, V sighed. "We get to Mikoshi. I contact Alt and then get zapped by Soulkiller, or whatever. I get untangled from you, and… and get my body back."

"That was what was discussed. Didn't think it required that much thought."

"It sounds… good, but…" V's voice sort of trailed off. Like the merc had more to say, but didn't.

Johnny was curious. "'But' what?"

"But, what happens to you?"

"Dunno. Getting you stable was the plan, remember?"

"Yeah… But… But what then? You stay in the chip?"

The merc’s concern was real. It was… touching. Enough so that Johnny actually felt obligated to think about his response and not just saying the first thing that came to mind. “Maybe? Who's really to say. Maybe I'll just leave with Alt or whatever…"

"Alt…" V let out a loud breath, his hands rising to cover his face before falling out to his sides. The expression that remained on the merc's face was complicated. "She's a bit of a stone-cold bitch."

The observation earned a barked laugh from Johnny. "You should have met her before she was an AI. She wasn't much better then." 

_ Except when she was… _ Johnny settled his arms over his chest and leaned against the apartment's window. Behind him, the bright lights of the city grew even brighter as the sun continued to sink behind the tall skyscrapers.  _ There was no need to trouble the merc with Johnny's own concerns. _

"How long were you two dating?"

Confused, Johnny's brow pinched slightly then relaxed. "Curious? Wondering how long ol' Silverhand has been tapping some serious pieces?"

V's nose wrinkled up. He made a half-strangled sound - one of mostly annoyance. "Know what. Fuck it. I don't care."

"Hey!" chuckled Johnny. "You were the one who asked."

"I'm sorry I did." V sat up again, likely realizing how much of a mess he was and that he was in badly need of a shower. He sniffed his shoulder, nose wrinkling for a different reason now. "Fuck. I stink."

"Just about as much as you did dragging your sorry ass out of that landfill."

V didn’t give Johnny a response. At least with words. He stuck up his middle finger, then dragged his sorry corpse towards the shower, dressing down in the process. A trail of clothes followed V’s wake. Socks. His faithful sleeveless hoodie. An obnoxious yellow and pink shirt.

There was further shuffling inside, but Johnny decidedly drowned exactly what V was doing out. 

Johnny flopped onto the couch, without the actual enjoyment of the couch reacting to such abuse. No whoosh of air, no bunching of cushions around his body, no creak of leather as he made himself comfortable. He was invisible. He was non-existent to the world around him.

_ Until he wouldn't be... _

_ “Realize what you’re doing to me is what Arasaka’s doing at Mikoshi?” _ Johnny grit his teeth at that particular memory of the day. 

Of course Johnny knew that. He told V just as much. He had to assure the damn merc that he was still all for fixing this, even if V seemed damn resigned to his shitty fate.

He lashed out at V's coffee table, his leg passing through it instead of making any real contact.

Nibbles chose that particular moment to finally hop out of the laundry basket it had made its bed and stretched.

"What?" he asked it, knowing full well that without being in V's body the cat couldn't see or hear him. "Was I being too loud for your highness?"

Finishing, Nibbles padded on small, dainty paws up to V's shoes and sniffed. Then the bald cat did what any other would have done had they just smelled the merc's ripe footwear.

Nibbles started heaving, emitting small little hurks. Nothing coming up, yet.

"Oh, Fu-" Johnny stood up, somewhat unsure what to do. 

V liked those shoes. Johnny hadn't seen the merc wear anything else. Johnny was beginning to think V didn't have anything else. He hadn't heard V reach the shower yet. Maybe he could get the merc's attention before permanent harm came to the shoes.

Faster than a thought, Johnny popped up beside the merc. "V!" he said, though with the bathroom acoustics he might as well have been shouting.

V practically jumped out of his skin. His arms flailed comically as he fell backward, head smacking hard into the shower handle. He curled in on himself against the tile, hands clutching the back of his head protectively. A few hissed cusses made it out of his mouth, but nothing coherent enough for Johnny to hear exactly how colorful V had decided to be with his vocabulary. 

"You done?" Johnny asked when the worst seemed to be over. 

"Fuck. Johnny. What the hell? What could possibly be so important you try to scare the piss outta me?"

"Your naked goblin is barfing in your shoes."

The merc uncurled enough to stare up at Johnny, his brow furrowed with angry confusion. "My-" 

Fortunately, Johnny didn't have to explain.

V realized quickly, bolting to his feet. "Nibbles!" V yelled uselessly to the choir of hurking sounds. He dashed from the bathroom, giving Johnny a rare view of his bare back… and lower.

_ Fuck if that wasn't a sight his imagination was going to use later. _

Johnny followed slowly after.


End file.
